7 Tuesday news bites (Sep 20)

The back-and-forth between the Government and the Opposition over asylum seeker policy continues with no end in site. Yesterday Tony Abbott met with the Prime Minister Julia Gillard for 15 minutes in her office to discuss amendments to the Migration Act but left saying they had been ‘cobbled together in a panic’ and stripped away some basic protections. At this stage neither is willing to acknowledge the other’s policy and neither has offered to support it. This makes Malaysia a virtual no-go but it also means Nauru (the Opposition’s preferred option) won’t work either because the Greens will not support it. Asylum seekers may end up being processed on shore in detention centres after all. Watch this space.

A survey of Aussie sex habits carried out by pollster Nielsen (and commissioned by dating website RSVP) has found more than one third of Aussies prefer to have sex three to six times a week as their ‘ideal’. That figure was much higher during the first month of a relationship where almost half (47 per cent) said they wanted to have sex three times a day. 5300 people were surveyed. How often do you have sex?

He’s the billionaire playboy media mogul and leader of Italy whose penchant for women has landed him in hot water numerous times. Now Italy’s opposition is demanding an inquiry to see whether state-owned aircraft were used to fly escorts to Silvio Berlusconi’s ‘many’ private sex parties. In leaked tapes, recorded by investigators, he is heard boasting of ‘only getting through eight’ women in one night when he ‘had a queue of 11’ outside his bedroom door.

He was the only Aussie nominated for the 2011 Emmy Awards and he walked away with the gong for his role in Mildred Pierce. Pearce starred next to Kate Winslet, who was also given a gong. During his speech he said he got to have sex with Winslet ‘many many times’ before apologising, to applause, to his wife Kate who was in the audience. “This was really a delightful experience making ‘Mildred Pierce’ I got to have sex with Kate Winslet many, many times. And I didn’t realise it was going to result in this, so Kate I share this with you because you’re an extraordinary woman, thank you, for allowing me to insert myself into your world of Mildred,” he said. If you missed our gallery from yesterday, we’ve included it again because we’re nice like that.

Beware of reading too much into scientific studies before they advance very far but this one is at least interesting. Scientists in the United Kingdom, doing tests on lab mice, have noticed females have more (and more proactive) white blood cells which form the immune system. Queen Mary University London researchers said the white blood cells in female mice were more efficient, which resulted in the release of fewer chemicals, the ones that make you feel bad when you’re fighting a cold for instance. Well, how about that.

“There are too many redheads in relation to demand.” That’s the message from Cryos in Denmark – the biggest sperm bank in the world which is currently at full stock with 70 litres of semen – because no one’s asking for a ginger baby. The only country that appeared to actively select redhead children (based on requests received) is Ireland. The more you know.